


Avengers: Youngbloods

by acetrainerjen



Series: Playing with the MCU [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), F/F, Gen, I had this idea when ranting to a friend, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, What-If, avengers as found family, the MCU robbed us of this so I'm forcing it to happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22108126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acetrainerjen/pseuds/acetrainerjen
Summary: The snap has happened.The Avengers are gone.Those still left are not ready to give up.And maybe... not die in the process, no matter what Nebula keeps saying.
Relationships: Brunnhilde | Valkyrie/Carol Danvers, Carol Danvers & Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Skye | Daisy Johnson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Kate Bishop & Wanda Maximoff, Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker, Wanda Maximoff & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Wanda Maximoff/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: Playing with the MCU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591375
Comments: 20
Kudos: 107





	1. The Snap

"You should have gone for the head."

Thor rears back in horror as the words came out of the Mad Titan's mouth, Stormbreaker still buried in his chest.

Thanos sneers, bringing his gauntleted hand up to snap his fingers, ignoring Thor's protests and the motionless Avengers around him.

Looking around at his fallen comrades in dismay as Thanos opens a portal and leaves, Thor looks down feeling an odd sensation as his hands vanish before the rest of his body follows.

\---

"Steve?" Bucky looks around as Steve stumbles towards him with a weird look on his face, then falls to his knees as his oldest friend vanishes into dust right in front of his eyes, metal arm trying to grasp any part of what used to be Captain America.

"What's happening?" Sam asks in confusion as he stumbles over a root, making his way over to Bucky.

"Steve's gone." is all Bucky can say, looking up at Sam with an unreadable look on his face.

\---

Nearby, Okoye falls backwards in horror as her king turns to dust in front of her, Shuri talking frantically in her ear about the energy ripples that occurred from the snap.

\---

Wanda looks around, her eyes widening seeing Natasha vanish.

\---

Rhodey opens the Hulkbuster armor to see nothing but ash.

\---

Across the universe, Peter Parker cradles what's left his mentor in his arms, wondering what he could have done differently to stop this as Nebula watches nearby, surrounded by what used to be the Guardians of the Galaxy.

\---

In a little apartment in Bed-Stuy, Kate Bishop gets a text containing only a single word: Legacy. She buries her head in her hands, mourning the loss of her best friend and fellow Hawkeye.

\---

Carol Danvers' long-silent pager goes off in her pocket, causing her to drop everything and fly as fast as she can back to Earth.

\---

The Avengers are gone, and those left will have to pick up the pieces.


	2. Days Since the Snap: 0

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Nebula get to know each other, the rest of the Avengers go to the compound, and two unexpected guests show up escorted by Maria Hill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real quick before the chapter starts, I want to give a HUGE shoutout to prettyobsessedkara for the comment they left on chapter 1, I was so nervous to post this chapter (and story in general) because it's a very different direction to take Endgame, and their comment gave me the confidence to keep posting instead of just leaving it at one chapter. So thank you!!!!

With a heavy heart, Sam stands with Okoye as the two see who all has been lost around them while waiting for those left to join them.

"So... what will you do now?" Okoye looks over at the Falcon.

Sam sighs. "I guess we'll... fly back to the Compound and keep an eye on the final death counts, see who else we can get in touch with. I want to check on Clint and Scott Lang. What about you?" he asks Okoye. "What's gonna happen here?"

"Shuri will have to be sworn in as queen, as she's the only member of the royal family left. M'Baku and I will assist her with all of our power, and we will continue to assist the Avengers in any way we can." Okoye nods as everyone gathers around.

"Natasha and Vision are gone." Wanda is the first to break the silence, arms wrapped around herself.

"I found the Hulkbuster armor empty so Bruce was killed too." Rhodey volunteers.

"Steve is gone." Bucky says hollowly, Sam glancing worriedly at him.

Rocket folds his arms. "Groot is dust, I have no idea about the rest of my team out in space."

Rhodey looks around. "We don't know about Tony or Spider-Man, but I think those of the original six Avengers that were here in Wakanda are gone, since Thor would have shown up by now."

"Guess we'll just... fly back to the compound." Sam sighs. "I can see if I can get Maria Hill on the line and check on what she knows about SHIELD."

Everyone nods, silently walking back to the jet and trying to process everything that had just happened.

\---

"So..." Peter says awkwardly after the unnerving silence on Titan gets the better of him. "You're Thanos's daughter right? What's your name?"

Nebula looks over at him. "I am Nebula. Who are you?" she asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"I'm... Peter Parker. Or Spider-Man. I'm an Avenger." Peter smiles a bit saying it, but his smile fades. "I might be the only Avenger left now..."

"And you're from Earth? Like Peter Quill?" Nebula checks. "Perhaps we should get you back to your home then." Peter nods in agreement, looking around for any working ship that the two could try and fly back.

"Between the two of us we might be able to jury-rig something together." Peter nods, stammering when Nebula tilts her head. "Jury-rigging is like... using a bunch of parts to do something that most of them were not made to do. So we could get one working ship from the three crashed ships around here."

Nebula nods. "I am very good at repairing things. I must repair my limbs when they malfunction."

"Wait you have mechanical limbs?" Peter asks curiously. "I mean you don't have to say why, but I could barely tell. I guess I just assumed you were an alien, I haven't met a lot of aliens so I don't know what's alien and what's tech."

Nebula smiles a bit. "Maybe when I deliver you back to Earth you will know." Peter smiles and nods at that and swings over to one of the ships, being mindful of his web fluid left as Nebula follows at a slower pace.

\---

When what's left of the Avengers disembark at the compound, metal and glass walls glittering in the sunshine like a universe-altering event hadn't just happened, Sam stops everyone behind him seeing two unfamiliar figures standing on either side of Maria Hill waiting. Maria strides forward purposefully and takes everyone in, her face falling seeing how many are there. "Steve and Nat?" she asks Sam, who shakes his head. Maria blows out a breath. "Well now we have 5 of the 6 original Avengers confirmed gone. We still don't know about Tony."

"Wait how do we know Clint's gone?" Wanda asks worriedly, coming up next to Sam. Hearing Clint's name, a dark-haired girl with tinted sunglasses and a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder comes up next to Maria.

Maria nods to her. "This is Kate Bishop, Clint was training her to be the next Hawkeye."

"I was Hawkeye just as much as Clint was." Kate raises her eyebrows. "Just because I wasn't an Avenger doesn't mean I wasn't Hawkeye. I just only operated in New York. Clint texted me the code word we only use if one of us is about to die, and since he was with his family I can only assume he vanished just like my next door neighbor in the middle of their shower."

"Alright that explains why you're here, but who's the other girl wearing a SHIELD uniform and those gauntlets?" Rhodey asks, nodding to the subject of his statement.

The girl strides up easily, though her face shows grief and exhaustion. "Agent Daisy Johnson with SHIELD. Also known as Quake. The gauntlets help me control my powers. I'm the only one left on my team so I contacted Maria Hill, as is protocol when everyone around me turned to dust and is assumed dead, and she came and picked me up in Chicago."

"Quake?" Wanda asks curiously. "Can you create earthquakes?"

Daisy sighs. "Kind of? It's complicated. I can control vibrational and seismic waves, and I'm immune to vibrations. I was never able to explain it as eloquently as FitzSimmons, but maybe I can show what I can do later."

Wanda nods, looking interested still, but before she can ask another question Maria digs in her pocket.

"I was in New York with Fury when everyone started dissolving, and his last act was to take out this pager and activate it." Maria holds up said pager, displaying a red, blue and gold emblem on the pager's tiny screen. "I have no idea who or what he's trying to contact, but if it was his last act then it must be important."

Sam nods. "Let's get it hooked up inside so we don't lose the signal when the battery goes."


	3. Days Since the Snap: 0.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Nebula bond more, and Bucky makes an unlikely but very much needed friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much to petersunderoos96 and Batman111893 for their comments!!! I had to add some Agents of SHIELD in the form of Daisy because she's my absolute favorite part of Agents of SHIELD (besides Lincoln RIP) so I had to include her! And I'll probably go the route of Peter becoming the 'baby' of the Avengers so he and Valkyrie will have some nice moments! I think their conflicting personalities could be really interesting!

Peter chattered to combat the oppressive silence as he and Nebula worked on fixing the Benatar, laughing when he learned the name and explaining the reference to Nebula. Now, the young Avenger was talking through his work, with Nebula correcting or stopping him when he was about to blow something up and injure himself or set their work back.

"I've learned so much about tech in like the last half an hour, I already have four new ideas for my web shooters." Peter grins. "I'm gonna do some major upgrades when we get back to Earth."

"Your web shooters? Are you not part spider?" Nebula asks in a bit of confusion.

Peter looks surprised. "I guess it didn't come up. I was bitten by a radioactive spider last year so I'm really strong and agile, and I'm sticky, but I designed webbing and web shooters to get around. They're not naturally a part of me which is good because I don't think I could handle that much of a change." Peter laughs, trying not to go on a whole spiel about how he met the spider and how it changed his life.

Nebula nods. "So you were not born with your abilities. How did your parents react to this?" she inquires, then feels a strange pain somewhere in her chest when Peter's smile fades.

"They died in a plane crash when I was a kid." Peter says softly, focusing on the welding he's doing. "I live with my aunt, she freaked out when she found out. Are there aunts in space?" He looks up, trying desperately to change the subject after losing someone else he considered a father figure such a short time ago.

Nebula realizes the clumsy attempt to change the subject (the other Peter, Quill, did a similar thing when Rocket pried about his mother once) and lets it drop. "Yes, there are aunts in space. I believe Gamora once mentioned an aunt she had on her home planet before Thanos killed her family and kidnapped her."

"I'm sorry about what happened to Miss Gamora. Mr. Star-Lord seemed really upset when he learned about her death, and even though it is kinda his fault we lost to Thanos I don't blame him." Peter shrugs. "We all do crazy things for the people we love."

Nebula surprises herself by contributing, "I miss her. We did not consider each other family for most of our lives, but only recently after Gamora joined the Guardians did we slowly become sisters like we never could be as children."

"Better late than never right?" Peter smiles a bit, and Nebula smiles a bit more at the boy's optimism.

"Yes, better late than never."

\---

Being at the compound for Bucky was... complicated.

He knew Stark lived here at one point at least, and would probably not appreciate Bucky being here, but when he asked Sam about it he only got the dismissive answer of "Dude Stark's not here, we'll cross that bridge when he gets back."

Bucky resists the urge to unhelpfully point out that Stark might not ever come back, deciding to familiarize himself with the compound, which led to him taking his emotions out on a punching bag in the workout area.

"Does that punching bag owe you money or something?" a female voice asks from the doorway, and Bucky whirls around before relaxing slightly seeing one of the new kids - Daisy he thinks she said her name was - leaning against the doorway. "Like I have seen people with emotional baggage beating up on punching bags before but... never that severely."

"Did they have a super soldier serum?" Bucky asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Daisy shrugs, coming in. "Point taken. Wanna talk about it? Or fight with something other than a punching bag?"

Bucky shakes his head, blowing his bangs out of his face. "Don't wanna accidentally hurt you. The bag's fine."

"I can take care of myself, but it's your call." Daisy nods. "Besides you're a war hero, I trust you not to go too far."

Bucky stops punching the bag, looking at her confused. "I'm also a former Russian assassin and SHIELD's most wanted."

"Key word being former. And your name is at the very top of the Wall of Valor at every SHIELD base I've ever been to, so it's just the non-existent Winter Soldier that was the bad guy." Daisy shrugs again, wandering over to the treadmills and oblivious to the existential crisis Bucky has suddenly been thrust into.

"What do you mean Wall of Valor?" Bucky asks, his voice catching on the last part of the sentence and causing Daisy to turn around in confusion.

"The Wall of Valor is a memorial for fallen SHIELD agents. And I know SHIELD was founded after the war ended but I assume Peggy Carter and Howard Stark wanted to honor your memory somehow." Daisy explains, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

"I had no idea." Bucky says softly, looking down at his hands.

Daisy looks at him sympathetically. "Whatever your actions as a brainwashed Russian assassin, you are still a war hero. And you deserve to be remembered for that." Then she hesitates for a moment before adding, "And you're not the only person in the world to get brainwashed by something you hate and forced to hurt the people you care about."

Bucky looks at her confused, but before he can ask about what happened to her Sam knocks on the doorframe. "Dinner's almost ready... if you people eat that sort of thing."

Daisy rolls her eyes, slipping back into humor. "Wow, so original. I've never heard a joke about being Inhuman before."

Sam looks bemused. "I was talking about Barnes but now you gotta spill about what an Inhuman is."

"Clearly you haven't been following the news lately." Daisy quips back, and Bucky follows the two, slowly smiling hearing them dissolve into harmless bickering.

Maybe the compound could be home for him after all, as long as he wasn't alone.


	4. Days Since the Snap: 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been two weeks.
> 
> Daisy makes more friends, her and Wanda properly meet, and Carol Danvers finally shows up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to petersunderoos96, Batman111893 and Runereader for their comments! Yeah I was reminded of the scene in AOS season 1 of Daisy picking out specifically Bucky's name on the Wall of Valor, and my greatest dream is Daisy interacting with movie characters so I had to have her and Bucky talk about it! I'm really excited for her and Kate to interact more with MCU characters!

In the two weeks since Daisy had to watch her family turn to dust right in front of her eyes, she was slowly working on coping.

Not being alone definitely helped. Maria Hill was becoming a friend like Coulson, being able to tell Daisy stories about him from before the two had ever met. Maria’s dry humor also worked well with Daisy’s sarcasm, and Maria made a mental note to talk to Daisy in the future about possibly becoming an Avenger.

Rocket, after the initial shock of Daisy meeting him, was fantastic and had tons of crazy stories of what the Guardians of the Galaxy got up to. Daisy even discovered that they had worked with similar alien weapons from when Daisy had been transported to the future (which was a whole trip in itself to explain to everybody).

Bucky was also interesting to hang out with, the former assassin being a sort of kindred spirit. While Daisy didn’t have anything close to the kind of trauma that Bucky had, she had been through her fair share of darkness. Bucky was also surprisingly amenable to letting Daisy braid his hair one night when they both couldn’t sleep and ran into each other in the kitchen. “Princess Shuri and some of the kids in Wakanda liked to braid my hair, so it’s comforting. Plus it gets it out of my face.” Bucky says through a yawn.

“One of my teammates Jemma Simmons and I would braid each other’s hair if we couldn’t sleep in the Bus sometimes.” Daisy smiles softly, the memory hurting less when she shares it. “We even taught her best friend Fitz once.”

“I’m sorry you lost them.” Bucky looks over his shoulder at Daisy, and she smiles a bit at him. “They sound like great people.”

“Thanks Barnes.” Daisy nods. “Just for that, you get your braid tied off with a sparkly hair tie.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, sparkles are great.” Bucky shrugs, and Daisy laughs so loud that a sleep-deprived Rhodes comes to tell them to cut it out and if they’re going to stay up then at least keep the noise down.

The one puzzle Daisy wants to figure out is Wanda Maximoff. She doesn’t know much about the former Avenger, who is very quiet during meals and keeps to herself. But what Daisy does know she can definitely relate to, from guilt about losing control of her powers to honestly wanting to help people but screwing up when you try.

So she uses her superior spy skills (meaning she asks the building’s AI FRIDAY where Wanda goes after breakfast one day) and follows FRIDAY’s directions to the large empty field nearby, where Wanda is weaving red energy through the air, flowing into different forms seamlessly.

Daisy was honestly only going to watch for a little while before going back inside, but she can’t stop the awestruck noise that comes out of her mouth, causing Wanda to startle and whip around to find the source of the sound, accidentally directing the energy right at Daisy.

“Wait!” Wanda yelps panicked, about to try and pull the energy back to her before Daisy brings her own hands up, sending out vibrations that disperse the energy around her in a shower of red that fizzles out harmlessly in the grass.

For a moment, both women stare at each other wide-eyed and catch their breath.

“Holy shit I didn’t think that would work!” Daisy blurts out.

“Well now I definitely see why you’re called Quake.” Wanda says awestruck at the same time as Daisy. Then the two laugh, and for the first time since the two met Daisy sees Wanda smile as she walks over.

“I’ve never seen anyone able to interact with my powers like that.” Wanda says curiously.

“Well I am one of a kind.” Daisy smiles, tossing her hair faux-dramatically. “But I mean everything has a vibrational frequency, so I matched the frequency of your energy and countered it.” Wanda smiles. “I’d love to see how our powers interact more. How did you get yours?”

“I touched an alien artifact that released a cloud of mist in an underground maze in Puerto Rico.” Daisy says deadpan, then grins when Wanda looks bemused. “I know that sounds crazy but I’m completely serious. What about you? How’d you get your powers?”

Wanda rubs her arms. “My twin brother and I volunteered for experiments to help protect our home country of Sokovia. We were given our powers from the Mind Stone.”

“That’s something we have in common.” Daisy smiles at Wanda’s confusion. “We both got our powers from dangerous and powerful alien forces that probably shouldn’t have been messed with in the first place.”

Wanda laughs. “Well that is very true.” For a moment, the two just stand there smiling at each other, then both hear a commotion from inside. “We should probably-” Wanda starts.

“Yeah, go see what’s going on.” Daisy nods, the two going inside and following Maria and Sam to where the pager is hooked up to a power source.

“It just turned off, I know it wasn’t the battery but the signal stopped broadcasting.” Rhodes explains, pacing worriedly.

“Reboot it, send the signal again.” Sam tells him. “Whatever that was trying to contact, it must have been important. We need to know what it is.”

Rhodes nods and gets to work, Maria sighing worriedly. “Anything we can do?” Wanda asks, and Sam shakes his head before tensing while looking to the doorway.

In unison, everyone looks over, then gets ready for a fight: Maria, Sam and Rhodes all pull out firearms, while Wanda and Daisy both throw their hands up, the former’s already shimmering with red energy.

The blonde woman standing in the doorway looks just as ready for a fight, tense and glaring with her fists clenched. “Where’s Fury.” She says. Not as a question, but as a demand.

Recognizing the symbol on the woman’s blue, red and gold suit, Maria slowly lowers her gun. “Fury’s gone. His last act was to activate a pager with your suit symbol. So you tell me... who are you?”

When the woman doesn’t answer, only the slightest twitch of her mouth betraying her emotions, Sam huffs in annoyance and looks up. “FRIDAY?”

“Carol Danvers, former US Air Force Captain. She vanished and was presumed dead after a reported training incident in 1989. SHIELD records indicate she returned to Earth for a week in 1995 and was instrumental in recovering the Tesseract from hostile Kree forces.” FRIDAY reports. “According to Fury’s records, she was also the inspiration behind the Avengers Initiative.”

At that, everyone in the room stands down, and Carol relaxes slightly. “So Fury’s gone... I’m sorry to hear that. We didn’t spend a lot of time together but I considered him family.”

“Do you know how he lost his eye?” Daisy asks curiously.

Carol grins at that, but her smile fades as she continues. “I do. I’ll tell you later, I promise kid. After someone fills me in on what happened to make Fury contact me and what caused several people around me to vanish into dust.”

“I feel like that’s a group effort, I’ll round up the troops.” Maria nods and leaves, ending up gathering everyone in the main area of the compound.

Rhodes starts the narrative, relaying what Pepper had sent to him after Strange took Tony and what she had seen on the news in New York before everything else went down. Then those in Wakanda take up the story, Wanda’s voice cracking when she describes what happened to Vision and Daisy glancing worriedly at her.

“And the guys who went to space aren’t back yet?” Carol checks, standing up when she gets a round of nods from the group. “Alright then, I’ll go find them and bring them back.”

“Do you want backup?” Kate asks, and Carol raises her eyebrows at the younger woman.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who can breathe in space without any equipment or a spaceship, so...” Carol shrugs. “See you in a bit.” she salutes and walks out, and everyone scrambles to the windows to see her launch off the ground in a streak of light, disappearing into the atmosphere.

“That is the most badass woman I’ve ever seen, and no one tell Agent May that.” Daisy finally says, and Maria snorts.

“My lips are sealed.”


	5. Days Since the Snap: 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter comes home, the team meets Nebula, and a space field trip is planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm so sorry this chapter took so long. A lot of life things happened and it was super hard for me to find inspiration to write but this fic was always in the back of my head so I hope this chapter was worth the wait!
> 
> A big thank you to petersunderoos96, Runereader, Batman111893 and Unpaid_Devushka for their comments! I don't know how long the time skip will be but it probably won't be 5 years, but the characters will have a much stronger bond than those in the original movie from staying together at the Compound instead of separating!

It takes a while for everyone to calm down after the hubbub of Carol coming and going, but that night’s dinner was more loud and animated than usual, Bucky being the exception. Kate tries to bring him out of his shell a bit by recounting how her and Clint first met, but even that couldn’t tame Bucky’s nerves about possibly being face-to-face with Tony Stark since the latter had learned about Bucky’s actions as the Winter Soldier.

Nobody ended up waiting very long, as a few hours after Carol left, a large glow in the sky appears that Maria notices while reading. Quickly gathering together after Maria’s rapid wakeup call, the group assembles on the large lawn in front of the compound as Carol easily sets down the ship she’s carrying.

Rhodey, Rocket and Pepper (newly arrived from New York when Rhodey updated her about Tony’s possible return) all rush over closer to see who they can help, but only two figures emerge from the mouth of the ship: Nebula holding up an exhausted Peter Parker, dressed in his school clothes and looking emaciated.

“Oh my god Peter...” is all Rhodey can say worriedly, remembering Tony telling him about the kid so full of life and cheer. Nebula carefully transfers the weight to Pepper, and Peter looks up at her deliriously.

“Mr. Stark’s gone...” Peter gets out weakly, leaning heavily on Pepper, and everyone within earshot jolts at the reaction. Rhodey and Pepper’s eyes fill with tears, and Carol tracks the kid’s movements with her eyes, hoping he was going to be alright after not having proper nutrients for almost two weeks.

“That’s OK Peter, it wasn’t your fault...” is all Pepper can say, getting him inside with Rhodey as Maria gets an IV to replenish the nutrients that Peter had lost while in space. All Rocket can do is join Nebula on the ramp of the ship, gently offering his paw to his on-and-off teammate. Nebula silently accepts it, and the two sit there for a moment, trying to come to terms with the fact that they’re the only two Guardians of the Galaxy left.

After everyone is gathered inside and Peter is a little more coherent with Nebula hovering nearby, having grown fond of him on their travels, Sam gently breaks the silence. “So I can assume you’re the Spider kid we fought in Germany.”

Peter nods weakly. “I go by Spider-Man though.”

Sam nods in understanding. “Cool, just making sure. We don’t need to know anything else right now, I just wanted to make sure some random kid hasn’t been through hell for the past two weeks.”

“How old are you?” Bucky asks, trying not to be sick seeing him so thin.

“16.” Peter says weakly, then his eyes widen. “Wait is my aunt OK? What about my friends?” He looks around with a burst of energy, looking for answers, but his face falls when Pepper silently shakes her head, tears running down her face.

All of the adults in the room can barely look at Peter, wondering how dark the situation can be if a 16-year-old can hold the weight of the universe on his shoulders. The younger people in the room (those being Daisy, Kate and Wanda) form a protective cluster around Peter, remembering how much everything is being a teenager, and wanting to help the younger boy in any way they can.

In the end, Rocket is the one to break the silence. “So what do we do now?”

As if answering his question, FRIDAY informs the group that the compound was getting a video call from Wakanda, and after Maria tells FRIDAY to answer it a feed of Shuri and Okoye is projected onto one of the walls.

“Sam! Something just- wait... what is going on over there?” Okoye starts quickly, her eyebrows furrowing as Shuri looks confused too.

Sam steps up to talk to the general, having formed a loose friendship with her while intermittently hiding out in Wakanda. “Long story, but the space crew is back. Tony’s gone, along with the magic dude who lives in New York, and Rocket’s team. Spider-Man’s the only one left.”

Okoye looks shocked for a moment seeing Peter sitting in the chair with IVs poking out of him, not even moving from all the commotion and being a far cry from his usual energetic and excitable self. Shuri pokes her head around the general curiously to get a better look of the scene as well, and Okoye soon gets to the point of her call.

“Shuri has been monitoring energy signatures as far out as she can with Wakandan technology, seeing if anything similar has happened from the energy output that the snap released.” Okoye explains.

“So... was there another energy signature?” Daisy asks curiously before she can help herself.

Okoye nods to Daisy, not recognizing the girl but rolling with it regardless. “Yes, on a planet far away from our solar system.”

Shuri pulls up the map to show where the signature originated, and Nebula steps forward. “I know that planet, Thanos mentioned it often when I asked him what he would do after his plan was complete.”

Everyone turns to look at Nebula in surprise, Kate being the first to speak up. “Wait you know the purple bastard?”

Nebula nods, and Peter speaks up in her defense before anyone else can speak, his voice a little stronger. “She’s his adopted daughter, but he was a terrible dad so don’t be mad at Miss Nebula. Thanos is a bully and he killed Miss Gamora, his other adopted daughter, too.”

Pepper glances worriedly at him as Peter pauses to catch his breath, and Sam interjects. “What exactly was his plan after using the stones?”

“The stones were his life’s goal, so after his plan was complete Thanos was going to live the rest of his days peacefully on that planet, which he called the Garden.” Nebula nods to Shuri’s map. “I do not know why he used the stones again however.”

Carol nods sharply and gets up to leave, Maria raising her eyebrows at her. “Where are you going?”

“To kill Thanos.” Carol says, smirking and stalking out of the room. Everyone left exchanges glances, then Sam, Rhodey and Wanda run to go stop her from going.

“You’re not going alone.” Wanda looks at Carol after getting in front of her, eyes holding a hint of red. “We all have a personal stake in going after Thanos, but he took out every member of the Avengers in Wakanda, and apparently in space too.”

“Yeah, how do we even know this will end any differently than last time?” Daisy points out as everyone else forms a loose circle.

“Because before you didn’t have me.” Carol states calmly, perking an eyebrow.

Rhodey’s face shows he wants to protest, but before he can Maria steps up. “None of us are doubting your powers, especially since you just carried a spaceship back to Earth in less than a day with no special equipment. But we don’t go to fights alone here, and I’m willing to bet you don’t fight alone either.”

Carol regards Maria’s firm stance and determined face before nodding and stepping back, then all eyes are drawn to Peter walking over, dragging his IV with him. “I’m going with all of you.”

There’s an immediate uproar as everyone starts protesting, but Peter shouts to quiet the room. “I have just as much of a right to go as everyone else here, I fought Thanos too!”

“Peter you’re 16, you can’t -” Sam starts, but he’s cut off quickly.

“Bullshit! I fought most of you last year and caught his arm-” Bucky blinks in surprise as Peter points at him, but doesn’t get a chance to speak as Peter continues. “So I’m just as strong or stronger than anyone else here!” Peter asserts, then stammers quickly. “W-well, maybe not as strong as Captain Danvers, because she can carry a spaceship, but besides her! I’m just as invested in this as all of you, and I bet no one else here has had their two mentors die in their arms less than 2 years apart so stop trying to say I can’t handle this because I’m still here and I’m going with you to kill Thanos!”

There’s a shocked silence when Peter stops speaking, but before anyone can even begin to think of a response the adrenaline catches up to Peter and he goes deathly pale, starting to collapse before Wanda quickly summons a pillow of red energy to cushion his fall.

Carol looks at him worriedly, coming over to help Nebula get him upright. Pepper helps too, explaining, “I’ll go get him laid down in one of the medical rooms, I won’t be very much use in this discussion anyway.” she smiles a bit, accepting Nebula’s help to carry the unconscious teen out of the room.

“So...” Shuri starts after the three are gone. “Are you still going after Thanos?”

“I definitely am.” Carol states, then softens slightly. “But I wouldn’t hate to have backup.”

Rocket steps up too. “I got a big gun that’s aching to take on that purple asshole.” Carol smirks a bit at him and nods, looking around when Rhodey, Sam, Bucky, Wanda and Daisy step forward too. Kate declines, stating that it’s a little out of her wheelhouse, but Nebula joins in after helping Peter.

After some quick repairs of the Benatar courtesy of Nebula and Rocket, with Carol providing some help, the ragtag group of what’s left of the superheroes of Earth goes to take on the Mad Titan.

Or so they assume.


	6. Days Since the Snap: Still 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to kill Thanos! And then run into some other survivors of the snap!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, hello! Sorry about the long gap between chapters. Life has been a little crazy, and I'm writing this chapter by chapter instead of posting a pre-written chapter every couple weeks so I have to work around my inspiration and motivation to write.
> 
> Even before my state went into lockdown because of COVID-19 I was super stressed about passing my classes to graduate college (spoiler alert: I passed so I'm a college grad now!). And then shit hit the fan and half of my family is immunocompromised so we had to be super extra careful so I was stressed about helping to get groceries while not bringing anything back home with me.
> 
> But things have settled down as much as they can and I'm not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, so I might actually get some writing done.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your comments on the last chapter, I'm excited for Carol to interact with everyone (and Daisy to interact with everyone too!) because one of the things I feel the MCU lacks is female relationships of any kind (minus the Captain Marvel movie ofc!) and so I'm hoping to improve on that. And I'm hoping that everyone likes the changes I make to the original story too based on the different characters that survived! Also spoiler alert: there will not be a 5 year time gap. I don't know how long it'll take for this crew to invent time travel but it won't be 5 years. Or if it is, we'll see the stuff in between. Like I said, I'm making this up as I go! I welcome suggestions!

“So...” Carol starts as the ship leaves Earth’s atmosphere. “Who here hasn’t been to space?”

Rocket snickers seeing everyone but Daisy and Nebula raise their hands, and Carol smirks too. “Better hold on tight there folks.”

Everyone else grabs onto something as Carol and Rocket guide the ship through a jump to The Garden, Wanda looking out the window in awe. Daisy can’t help but look around too. “Gotta say, this is already a lot better than the last time I was in space.” she muses.

Sam glances at her curiously, but before he can ask Carol stands up. “I’m gonna go do some recon, make sure we won’t get shot out of the sky.” Everyone nods, then there’s silence after Carol exits the ship, glowing brightly as she does when in space or using her powers in large amounts.

“Danvers? What’s it looking like down there?” Sam asks after a couple minutes of nobody saying anything.

“There’s nothing here.” Carol responds in confusion. “No weapons, no ground missiles, nothing. Just a little farm...”

“I’ll land the ship close by, then we can make a game plan on how to take him out.” Rocket nods, taking the ship down.

After Carol confirms that the atmosphere is breathable for the non-superpowered humans on the ship, the team disembarks, making their way to the farm and quietly discussing a game plan.

A few minutes later, the team bursts into action: Carol flies in first, tackling Thanos down to the ground and putting him in a headlock. “What did you do with the stones?” she growls in his ear, holding onto him tightly.

Wanda flies in right afterwards, using her magic to hold his fist open. Then the ground shakes, and Daisy bursts in from another side, vibrating his arm so much that even without Wanda’s magic the gauntlet wouldn’t be usable.

The rest of the team comes slower after Carol confirms that Thanos can’t use the gauntlet, and Wanda uses her magic to turn it over so Rocket can examine it, Sam looking around him.

After a minute, Rocket lets out a string of swear words. “The stones are gone!”

Everyone’s eyes widen at this, and Carol tightens her grip around Thanos’s neck, asking dangerously, “Let me ask you again. What. Did. You. Do.”

Bucky glances at her to loosen the grip so Thanos can actually give her an answer, and Carol rolls her eyes annoyed before reluctantly loosening.

Thanos catches his breath then manages to get out hoarsely, “I used the stones to destroy the stones, so that they can never be used against me.”

Carol glares more at him, but Bucky looks more depressed than Sam had ever seen him. “So there’s no way to bring everyone back then?”

Thanos starts to say something, but before anyone else can react Nebula strikes, slitting his throat with her sword in one fluid movement. “He was just going to make himself the hero again. No one needed to hear it.” she says emotionlessly, and no one can think to contradict her statement.

There’s a heavy silence, Wanda being the one to break it softly. “So... what do we do now?”

“We go back to Earth.” Sam sighs. “And we make a new plan.”

Everyone slowly makes their way back to the ship, previous energy gone. There is a ghost of a smirk on Bucky’s face after he notices Daisy aiming a kick at the limp form still holding the gauntlet, muttering under her breath, “That was for Coulson you bastard.”

After getting back into the darkness of space, the silence permeates the ship as Carol and Rocket start piloting the ship back to Earth, then everyone’s attention is drawn to the radio at the front crackling to life and a woman’s voice coming through. “If anyone is out there, this is a distress signal from Asgardian survivors. We need assistance, our ship is severely damaged and we have nowhere to go.”, followed by a string of coordinates.

The crew exchanges glances, then Sam shrugs. “I mean we are all still heroes.”

Rocket nods and starts plotting a course to the coordinates as Carol gets on the radio. “This is the Avengers, we’re on our way to assist.”

The voice on the other end of the radio confirms that she received Carol’s response, and everyone else jumps into action to be prepared for what they might find: medical supplies for the wounded, clearing space out, and getting repair kits ready to try and get the Asgardian ship operational enough to fly back to space.

When the Benatar arrives at the given coordinates, everyone’s eyes widen seeing the debris littering the surrounding area and the cracked open ship. “I don’t think we can maneuver the ship any closer, Danvers you wanna fly over there first and see what they need help with the most?” Rocket glances over at Carol, who nods and slips out the airlock again.

After a few minutes, she breaks the silence. “I’m coming back for medical supplies and some welding tools to get this ship semi-functioning, then you guys head back to Earth. I’ll carry the ship back behind you. They want to know what happened to Thor and they know his teammates are from Earth.”

Sam’s face falls and he sighs. “Let’s all go back to Earth, then we can tell the story again...”

Rocket nods, then after Carol comes back and gets the tools both ships pilot their way back, no one looking forward to filling the Asgardian refugees in on what happened to their king.


	7. Days since the Snap: 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers meet Valkyrie, and start adjusting more to the new reality that they live in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a shorter chapter this time, but I swear the actual plot is coming soon. I've actually written ahead this time, so I have some chapters already written.
> 
> I am so sorry again for the gap in posting, life has been kicking my ass again and it's hard sometimes to find motivation with everything that's going on in the world.
> 
> Feel free to contact me on my other socials (I'm acetrainerjen on Tumblr and Twitter too) if you ever want to talk about anything, related to the fic or no!

Everyone takes the night to rest and regroup after the Asgardian ship lands on Earth, though the new Avengers take the time to greet Thor’s friends from his travels: Valkyrie, Korg and Miek. Valkyrie doesn’t open up at first, putting on a hostile face that only cracks when Thor’s death is revealed, but Korg is open and friendly from the beginning, telling everyone what happened in a thick New Zealand accent (even though the alien had never heard of New Zealand before today, so everyone assumed it was just a strange coincidence).

The three come into the compound to hear the full story of what happened, and Korg and Miek both steer Valkyrie away from any alcohol, explaining her history of drinking. Maria nods, making a mental note to fill everyone in to help keep Valkyrie clean for however long the Asgardians end up staying at the compound.

“What I wouldn’t give to just... stab that purple bastard in the heart.” Valkyrie growls, folding her arms instead of taking out her sword like she probably wanted to.

“Nebula beat you to it, she sliced his throat open.” Daisy tells her helpfully, and Valkyrie nods to the blue android, who nods back in recognition of another warrior with a dark side and willing to kill to protect those they cared about.

After the revelation of having no leader, the Asgardians begin to temporarily settle in, and Valkyrie somehow slips easily into the group of Avengers old and new, striking up a friendship with Carol, the two having met a lot of the same alien races on their travels across the galaxy. The two also shamelessly flirt with each other, although nobody was actually sure if it was real flirting or just banter. Valkyrie and Bucky also form a strange friendship, the latter fascinated by Valkyrie’s stories of being on Sakaar and the former admiring Bucky’s strength of overcoming his deeds with HYDRA.

After taking a few weeks to search, the newly displaced Asgardians end up settling in a small fishing village in Norway as their new home, though Valkyrie promises to fly over to the compound every few weeks and help train Bucky and Daisy in the art of sword fighting and to tell stories of Asgard to Peter, who seemed at his lightest when learning about the mythical city and its inhabitants.

The ‘new and improved’ Avengers (in Kate’s words) also begin training together. It’s rough at first, finding how everyone’s fighting styles and powers worked - one memorable incident found what was left of the US Government coming to investigate after Carol and Wanda had an outdoor sparring session that left a giant impact crater in the field next to the compound. The only regret everyone had was that there was no recorded video of the sparring match, as most felt it would be enough of a deterrent for hostile alien forces to not mess with the Earth.

Kate, Bucky and Maria also start a sharpshooting competition, leading to an evening where the crew basically tested the three by seeing how far away they could accurately shoot. (Kate won by recreating the scene from Brave, to the delight of Peter, Sam and Daisy).

All in all, the new Avengers try their best to move on and make the best of their new reality, though no one really succeeds: Peter has nightmares almost every night of Tony dissolving in his arms, and joins the late night crew of Valkyrie (when she's there), Bucky, Carol, and Daisy, finding company soothes the pain of traumatic memories. Wanda tries to distract herself as much as possible, between watching movies and getting closer to Daisy, training with Carol and occasionally Valkyrie, or just drinking tea with Rhodey and getting to know her teammate better, something she hadn’t done the first time they were both Avengers. Kate finds herself just trying to carve out her place in the squad as the baseline human, not even having mechanical wings or a suit of armor to enhance her abilities. Sam ends up using his abilities as a counselor to help his teammates’ mental health however he can, leaning on Maria for support.

But in the back of everyone’s minds, they all knew that they could never move on from what they lost, and if an opportunity arose to bring everyone back, every single Avenger would do anything and everything in their power to make it work.

And it turns out that they would get that chance a lot sooner than anyone could have anticipated.


	8. Years Since the Snap: 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the anniversary of the worst day in recent history, the Avengers actually somehow have a good day.
> 
> And then some Avengers take a trip to the west coast!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The US Presidential election is very much stressing me out so I decided to try and give people a distraction to read.
> 
> But I just want to say to those in the same boat as I am: take deep breaths, take breaks, and remember that we most likely won't get a verdict for another couple days so you can take the night off.
> 
> (Also unrelated but I am also very invested in what happened with Supernatural so feel free to message me if anyone else wants to talk about it!)
> 
> As always, I'm acetrainerjen on Tumblr and Twitter to talk about anything, from the fic to just if you need to vent!

On the one year anniversary of the snap, everyone wakes up more understandably down than usual. Which is why everyone is surprised to come into the kitchen for team breakfast to see Peter, Kate and Shuri (on a diplomatic visit from Wakanda but of course had to come visit her nerd friends) cooking up a storm in the kitchen, every available surface filled with pancakes, omelets, bacon, and some incredible-smelling batches of cinnamon rolls. “Guys... what is all this?” Wanda asks, rubbing her eyes and supporting Daisy who’s practically falling back asleep on her shoulder.

“Hey guys!” Peter smiles, his chef’s hat askew from Kate throwing burnt pancake pieces at him. “We know today is the anniversary of what happened, but we decided to try and make today a celebration of the good things that came from it. Like I probably would have never met all of you!”

“I never would have met my soul sisters.” Kate smiles at Wanda and Daisy, who slowly smile back and go over to give the archer a hug happily. Everyone else smiles seeing the hug, and look around at each other, realizing the strong bonds they had forged with each other in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.

“We also have some fun team-bonding activities.” Shuri grins. “How does a compound-wide NERF war sound? And we also wanted to play some sort of team sport, but only if those with super strength promise to behave.”

“I make no promises.” Carol grins, snagging a pancake. “We should have a Mario Kart tournament too, I have a score to settle with Wilson.”

Sam grins back at her. “Just name the time and place Danvers.” Peter smiles happily seeing everyone fall into harmless bickering and chattering while getting their chosen breakfast foods, thinking about how amazing it was that he wasn’t alone like he thought he would be right after the snap.

As if sensing his thoughts, Rhodey waves him over, calling teasingly, “You better start eating soon kid, or all the food will be gone!”

“Alright alright I’m coming!” Peter laughs, vaulting over the counter easily and grabbing two plates of pancakes as he joins the lively crew at the extended breakfast table, ducking the cup of coffee Wanda is levitating over for Daisy, who squeezes her hand gratefully.

The meal goes about as smoothly as any Avengers meal can, with only minimal food throwing and/or usage of powers, although Bucky does detach his arm and throw it to claim the last cinnamon roll before anyone else could grab it, inciting a wave of laughter from the table.

After cleaning up and changing, everyone assembles in the common room for the NERF war, though Shuri is halfway through the rules when FRIDAY interrupts. “I apologize for the intrusion, but Mr. Wilson instructed me to inform him immediately if anything involving Scott Lang in San Francisco was filed.”

“What happened FRIDAY?” Sam asks, suddenly all business as those familiar with the name perk up.

“A van registered to Lang’s name was put in an impound lot, it was found on a roof surrounded by scientific equipment. Additionally, I have security footage of his daughter Cassie outside of his apartment receiving a bag of groceries from a neighbor.” FRIDAY reports, the latter statement attracting everyone’s attention.

“Shit.” Sam swears. “OK, Hill and I will get the van and equipment. Johnson, Danvers, go talk to Cassie and see if she’ll come with us back to the compound. If not, at least give her a communicator so she can contact if she needs any help.” The three named nod and run to the Quinjet, Sam smiling apologetically at the group and following them.

“I guess the NERF war is postponed for now...” Peter frowns, then shrugs. “Anyone wanna watch a movie?”

As with anything involving a choice with the Avengers, this simple statement causes a spirited discussion of opinions. Rocket eventually wins out with the idea of watching Footloose, as it was Peter Quill’s favorite movie and the rest of the crew either remembered it fondly or hadn’t seen it.

While the bulk of the Avengers settle in to watch the movie, Sam, Maria and Daisy take the Quinjet over to San Francisco as fast as possible, Carol flying beside them to stretch her legs and feel the wind in her hair. “How old even is Cassie?” Daisy asks, worried about a kid being on her own for a year with at least one parent missing.

“According to records, Cassie Lang is now 12 years old.” FRIDAY responds, and Daisy’s eyes widen.

“I don’t know if we can even leave her there in good conscience.” Maria admits. “If all of her family got snapped... we’re just lucky her neighbors are kind enough to help out.”

“Does she know that her dad is a superhero?” Daisy asks. “Because if not she’s gonna freak seeing us.”

“I have no idea, Scott didn’t sign the Accords but was put on house arrest for the Germany fight so either he made up a huge lie to tell his family or they all knew.” Sam responds from the cockpit. “Just be prepared for anything.”

“We always are.” Carol says through comms from outside, and Daisy nods, deciding against her gauntlets for the trip as Sam lands the jet and everyone disembarks. Sam and Maria go to pick up the van and equipment, while Daisy and Carol square their shoulders and go talk to a 12-year-old girl.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction posted on this site, and I don't have a set update schedule just yet so be patient with me.
> 
> Also constructive criticism and questions are always welcome! I love talking about my writing!


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